Let's Not and Say We Did
by Delicious Mud Pie
Summary: A strange romance


A/N: I wrote this about a million years ago. I'll finish it if y'all don't think it's lame.  
  
Let's Not and Say We Did  
  
Part 1 The great bathing attempt! Jesse gets tired of losing!  
  
The secluded park was sort of a new addition to Cerulean City, but was really just a cornering off of an area already well endowed with trees and open grass fields and adding park benches and a small man-made lake to it. In any case it was the perfect spot to rest, eat lunch and watch psyduck and goldeen play in the water while waiting for lunch. It was also a great break from seeing Misty's obnoxious family the entire morning. Misty was the only one still excited about Violet's wedding-the lackluster cake and nay inedible gourmet food had worn thin quickly on both Brock and Ash, and both were glad to get away from it.  
"And I bet I could get a better husband," Misty went on, "that guy wasn't even good looking, let alone rich! She was going on and on about how great he was and he wasn't even-"  
"Hey," Ash sneaked up behind Brock, taking the opportunity to ignore Misty as a little bit of drool began forming at the corners of his mouth, "whatcha cookin'?"  
"Oh," Brock smiled, "only my world famous fried shrimp-filled potstickers!"  
"Awww," Ash frowned, "you mean leftovers from last night?"  
Brock held up a condemning finger, "you should be honored to eat my leftovers."  
"I don't think that quite came out right," Misty scratched her head, taking a peek at what Brock was making as well.  
"Couldn't you make a steak or something?" Ash pleaded.  
"Hey," Brock frowned, "my potstickers taste even better the second time around!"  
Unnoticed by the arguing assemblage, a nearby bush shook ever so slightly.  
"Look at those brats," Jesse frowned, "turning their noses up at food!"  
"Especially considering we haven't eaten all day," James sniffled, putting a hand to his stomach which began to rumble for effect.  
"We could always try and swipe da food from da twoips," Meowth suggested, lying on the grass with his paws behind his head, seemingly totally uninterested in his very own idea.  
Jesse continued frowning and staring at the twerps' little argument.  
"I'm making some jasmine rice with it too," Brock continued, "that's good, isn't it?"  
"Do you have any black rice?" Misty asked.  
"What are you," Jesse sniggered to herself, "their slave?"  
"I might have some," Brock put a hand to his chin, deep in thought.  
"Tell the twerps to go blow themselves!" Jesse shook her head, knowing all the while that Brock couldn't hear her anyway.  
"Who?" James raised an eyebrow to Jesse, turning away from his nails which he was filing concurrently.  
"Oh nothing," Jesse snapped back at James. "Go back to putting on makeup."  
"For your information I'm just filing my nails!" James stuck his tongue out at Jesse. "I don't see why being a guy should mean I have to have filthy ragged nails!"  
"Oh heaven forbid!" Jesse rolled her eyes.  
"Hey enough wit da fightin'!" Meowth ordered them both. "We gotta tink of a way to get dat pikachu!"  
"Pikachu, pikachu, pikachu!" Jesse stood up, snorted, grabbed James' emery board and threw it down.  
"Err, yeah!" James nodded, picking his emery board back off the ground, throwing it down ceremoniously, then picking it back up again to file his nails with. "My stomach won't be satisfied by a pikachu sandwich! Or, maybe it would be, but I'd prefer something not so furry-"  
Jesse grumbled, stole his emery board again and threw it on the ground. "No! I'm serious! We make one last attempt to steal that pikachu-no motto or anything to get in the way-and if we fail we should-we should get a new job to have enough money to buy food!"  
James and Meowth stopped dead in their already by and large motionless tracks and began to stare at Jesse as if she'd totally flipped her lid.  
"Are you feeling well Jesse?" James blinked.  
"I tink da hunger's getten' to ya." Meowth appeared agape as he said this.  
"I'm serious!" Jesse pounded her right palm with her left fist, then looked back over to the twerps, shoveling food into their mouths. "I want to be so ungrateful I can bitch about food too!"  
"Then we gotta catch pikachu," Meowth nodded.  
"Yes," James nodded as well, "we'll devise our best plan yet!"  
"If I left it to you chuckleheads we'll be electrocuted and in a tree infested with beedrills in seconds," Jesse rolled her eyes, then punched her palm again. "No, tonight we have a real plan."  
"I don't like dat look in yer eyes," Meowth blinked.  
"Looks like pure evil," James pondered. "What is this plan, Jesse?"  
  
"Pikaaaaachuuuuuuuuuu!" Pikachu screamed best it could, then commenced to shock Ash until he fell over in a crumpled heap.  
"Come-on-" Ash coughed, blowing smoke rings in-between words, "you smell like-a barnyard-this bath is-long-overdue!"  
"Kapika!" Pikachu turned its back on Ash, firmly shaking its head no.  
"Come on Pikachu," Misty attempted to coax it, "don't you want to smell nice and pretty?"  
"Pi KA!" Pikachu shook its head just as firmly as before.  
"I'll give you a Scooby snack!" Brock offered, and both Misty and Ash turned to stare at him blankly.  
"Hey," Brock shrugged, "it worked for Fred and Daphne and Velma!"  
Pikachu let off small sparks from its cheeks to warn all who would come near.  
"This is hopeless," Ash frowned. "I guess I'll give up."  
Pikachu crossed its arms and smiled in victory, watching Ash pick himself up from the ground and sulk away sadly.  
"I guess you'll just have to smell like a pile of manure forever," Brock sighed, deliberately walking away as well. "Guess we have to leave- since we can't take the smell."  
"I guess you'll be a virgin forever," Misty looked into the air and sighed.  
"That's going a little far Misty," Ash whispered into her ear.  
"Well it's true!" Misty crossed her arms. "He might be able to get some from a Muk or a Koffing! But that's it!"  
The three began walking slowly away from Pikachu, humming tunes and whistling a little as they did so.  
"Pika?" Pikachu turned its head and blinked, its fur standing on end as it had a strange premonition that all was not well with the world.  
"Now!"  
Pikachu tried to run but there was no escape as Ash dove for it, wrapping his arms around the charging mouse as Brock and Misty dumped the tub of soapy water over both Pikachu and Ash.  
Ash began coughing and gagging on the water.  
"Thanks guys," he sniffed, but smelled like a barbeque soon after as Pikachu extracted its revenge.  
"Why do you have to be so impossible Pikachu?" Ash grumbled, then passed out with his crispy arms and legs still stuck in the air.  
"We've neva been able to trick deese morons?" a voice behind a pair of binoculars snorted. "How do we put our own pants on in da morning?"  
"You for one don't wear pants," James pouted, "and my pants look fabulous, thank you very much."  
Jesse slammed James over the head for effect, completely ignoring him as he fell to the ground, legs straight up in the air.  
"What are they doing, Meowth?" She asked.  
"Dey're tryin' ta give Pikachu a bath," Meowth relayed the information.  
"But they're distracted?" Jesse put her hands on her hips.  
"Yeah," Meowth nodded uneasily, "just laughin' about it."  
"Good," Jesse narrowed her eyes, then poked her head above the bush they were hiding in, carefully maneuvering a cannon seated on her shoulder, peering through the scope lens to find the twerps.  
"Perfect," she said under her breath as she noticed Brock and Misty poking an unmoving, charbroiled Ash while Pikachu sulked a few feet away. "Ready Meowth?"  
"Ready," Meowth nodded, manning a similar looking yet much smaller apparatus on his shoulder. "I have da rat in my sight."  
"Count us off James," Jesse whispered backwards to James who was nervously watching about a foot a way.  
"What shall I count you off to?" he blinked.  
"Three," Jesse snapped impatiently, not in the mood for such a trivial question although it was necessary to ask.  
"One," James whispered, "two, THREE!"  
The cannons held by Jesse and Meowth both fired as the number was shouted, releasing an opaque black net from one, and an opaque brown net from the other.  
Jesse leaped over the bush and grabbed the smaller black net, leaving those in the larger brown one to their own devices.  
"Run!" she shouted. "Hurry! Get out of here!"  
Jesse vaulted over the bush as they all ran towards a van they'd borrowed for this one excursion. Jesse equated the Meowth balloon with their multiple failures, and was bent on delivering the squirming pikachu to her boss at all costs.  
"This was so simple," Jesse shook her head. "Why didn't we do this before?"  
She turned around quickly to make sure that James and Meowth weren't far behind, only to find them dancing not far from where they began to run off.  
"Didn't I tell you two to run for it?" Jesse screeched, "run!"  
"We're just so happy!" James clapped his hands and began to run half- heartedly towards Jesse. "But we never did get to say our motto!"  
"No time!" Jesse stamped her foot.  
"To protect-" James pleaded with his eyes, the words coming out in one quivering pout.  
"To protect the world from devastation," Jesse grumbled quickly and lackadaisically.  
"To unite all peoples within our nation!" James shouted.  
"To denounce the evils of truth and love," Jesse repeated a little more enthusiastically.  
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"  
"Jesse!"  
"James!"  
"Team rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"  
"So surrender now or prepare to fight!"  
"Meowth-let's get outta here!"  
Jesse had become engrossed in the motto at that time, not noticing that they were being trailed by the escaped twerps who had been led to them by their voices.  
"This is why we're so incompetent!" Jesse shouted, then all three turned tail and ran.  
"You three aren't getting away with my pikachu!" Ash shouted, standing firm as he reached to his belt for a pokeball. "Go Bayleef!"  
"And go Poliwhirl!" Misty called out a pokemon as well, not to be outdone.  
Jesse stopped running, as did her partners. She clenched her fists, noticing Pikachu wriggling once again as her hand tightened around the top of the rubber sack.  
"I guess we have no choice but to fight!" she shouted, shaking a little as she handed Meowth the bag with Pikachu in it, gesturing for him to run to the van with it.  
Jesse grabbed and threw a pokeball, too angry to be sure which would appear. James did the same, and Jesse became even madder, believing that James was just screwing around as Victreebell proceeded to attack his head.  
Arbok seemed dazed as it came out of the pokeball, not having heard its name beforehand. It quickly surmised the situation, having experienced it all too many times before, and feigned a determined attack position against the dinosaur-like grass pokemon.  
"Arbok," Jesse's voice shook as she ordered her pokemon, too overcome with rage at already losing again to think about what she was doing, "use rock slide now!"  
James looked at her strangely, knowing that rock was no good against grass. He was about to question her motives after commanding his victreebell to wrap poliwhirl, but realized that she had already given up the fight, and was just waiting to "blast off" again.  
"Bayleef," Ash shouted, "use razor leaf, now!"  
Jesse watched as her pokemon was defeated, eyes going back to Meowth who had not taken the hint to run off with Pikachu and was just watching the battle the whole time. She watched again as Victreebell was defeated, her eyes drying out and her chest becoming too tight to allow for breathing, and rather than calling out another pokemon, she grabbed pikachu from Meowth's paws and threw it to Ash.  
Ash dove to the ground to catch Pikachu as he hadn't expected it to be given back and hadn't been prepared to catch it.  
"Take your god damn pikachu!" Jesse shouted. "Just leave us alone!"  
She stood shakily, her fists clenched, ready for Pikachu to electrocute them anyway.  
Ash stood dumbfounded for a moment until Pikachu made its way out of the bag and stood on the ground waiting for the command to send his assailants sky high.  
James was shocked as he called back his pokemon, only able to stand there as well.  
"Pikachu," Ash began to command it, and all three Team Rocket members closed their eyes tightly. "Thu-"  
Brock put a hand on Ash's shoulder. "Let them go, they gave Pikachu back to you."  
"Yeah Ash," Misty agreed, although still eyeing Jesse suspiciously as if she were going to attack again at any moment.  
"But they still," Ash began, but didn't even bother finishing as Jesse ran off and far away, James and Meowth following as she did so. Ash scratched the back of his head and shrugged. "Force of habit, I guess."  
"That was really weird," Misty blinked. "I bet they're gonna come back with another trap!"  
"I dunno," Brock scratched his chin, "Jesse looked really upset about something."  
"Yeah," Ash snickered, "she lost Pikachu again!"  
"Well they are total morons," Misty went on, "I mean they were shouting their motto in plain sight instead of running off. Sometimes I think they don't really want Pikachu-they just like to get electrocuted."  
"Whatever," Ash frowned. "I wanna get back to the hotel. Giving Pikachu a bath and then fighting Team Rocket is making that buffet sound really good."  
"This park was a perfect place to force Pikachu into taking a bath though," Brock commented while yawning and stretching.  
Pikachu muttered unhappily at the mention of a bath once again.  
"Don't worry Pikachu," Ash muttered back at it, "I'm not gonna be trying that again any time soon!"  
Pikachu smiled smugly as it made a huge leap onto Ash's shoulder, crossing its arms in victory at having made the whole bathing experience so unpleasant for its trainer.  
  
"I said this was the last time," Jesse twisted away from James' grasp upon her shoulder and continued walking swiftly towards the middle of town, "and I meant it!"  
"We were so close," James blinked, "we'll definitely get it next time!"  
"There have been enough next times," Jesse shouted. "I've had enough next times to last me a whole new lifetime! I've had it!"  
"Tink about dis Jesse!" Meowth put a paw to her leg.  
"I've thought about it," Jesse pulled her leg away. "And I'm going to get a job I'm good at, and I'm gonna have some food to eat by this time tomorrow!"  
With that statement she took off running. James sprinted after her, but was met with blows as he caught up. He staggered backwards, feeling Meowth's paw on his leg as he watched Jesse fade into the distance.  
"She'll be back," Meowth shook his head, although his voice wavered a little. "We have da keys to da van she rented anyway."  
"I don't think she needs it," James sighed, "but let's hope she needs us."  
  
Part 2 Holy white trash Batman! The twerps help a rocket member?!  
  
(One Month Later)  
  
"Don't ever come back either!" the black haired man shouted as Jesse stumbled out the door. "You'll never get hired in this town again!"  
"Oh if I had a nickel for every time someone in this town said that!" Jesse rolled her eyes and stuck her nose in the air, trying to reassemble her pride as she walked off from the crummy little restaurant. "I'll see you in court!" She shouted as her ex-manager slammed the door shut behind her. She sighed as she came to a bus stop bench, frowning as she realized that she didn't have money for bus fare, nor any place the bus could possibly take her to. She decided to forget about it and concentrate on something else. "That guy deserved coffee to be dumped in his lap! Of all the nerve- sending back a steak-it wasn't THAT rare!" she muttered, being cut short by a sharp pain in her stomach.  
"Who am I kidding?" she sniffled, clutching at her stomach. She groaned and let her head fall into her hands, and began grumbling a little as the sun's decent brought a breeze upon the landscape. She supposed she should change from the little waitress outfit (which she wasn't gonna give back, ha ha), but her rocket outfit without the jacket wasn't particularly warmer either. If only she'd remembered to steal some of James' costumes before she left she'd be able to get into something comfortable, at least. The thought of cold passed however as her stomach began churning again.  
"Ugh," she moaned, and slapped the arm rest of the concrete bench in frustration.  
"Are you all right, young lady?" a concerned old woman sitting next to her asked. Jesse hadn't even noticed her there.  
"Oh shove off," Jesse grumbled at the woman, causing her to become rather flustered. Jesse turned away, but sweat began to bead on her temples as the image of the woman's fat white purse became imprinted on the back of her eyelids.  
Jesse clenched her fists as the bus became visible on the horizon. She sat forward, rocking ever so slightly, shifting her eyes toward the old woman and back to the arm rest again.  
One last time won't hurt, she thought, her stomach beginning to growl a little as the thought swelled within her head. Just to tie me over until I get a job where they appreciate me!  
Jesse's hands inched away from her stomach, growing into claws as they neared the white bag. The old woman turned and gave her a weary look, but remained blissfully unaware of Jesse's plans.  
Jesse's palms began to sweat as the purse seemed to inch nearer to them, and although the time before they made contact seemed to take up an eternity, after she'd actually touched it time seemed to flash at her in fragments. One minute she was sitting on the bench, and the next her legs were moving very quickly beneath her and she wasn't sure where she was going. Why did she run? She knew she had to especially after hearing the bark of a growlithe and some pathetic attempt of an Officer Jenny to command her to halt.  
Jesse, however, was quite adept at sprinting and had easily lost Jenny after making a few quick turns down some alley ways. She congratulated herself and slung the purse over her shoulder as she ended up back in the middle of town. Her cheeks were still flushed pink from all the running and her hair was a little flat from sweat, but at least she retained her prize.  
"There she is!" Jesse heard, and looked a few yards to her right only to see Officer Jenny on the sidewalk, pointing to her like a moron. Was it the same Jenny? She had no idea. Jesse guessed that she wasn't one for the element of surprise.  
Jesse began running again, her stamina waning as she zipped through the crowd of people on the street. It was some sort of pokemon parade or something, she hadn't been paying attention. If it wasn't one pokemon parade it was another, and truth be told she could care less since she wasn't interested in stealing them anymore.  
"I can't go to jail!" Jesse began shaking, angry that she'd be locked up for one impetuous purse snatching rather than those years and years of pokemon thievery. Well, fruitless thievery, but thievery none-the-less.  
Jesse became distracted as she looked behind her, noticing Officer Jenny and her stupid fire mutt gaining on her. Her legs began to burn a little, but she refused to give up.  
"H-hey!" she shouted, as someone grabbed onto her wrist, halting her.  
"Thought you could get away, Team Rocket?" the familiar voice of her captor shouted smugly.  
"Get off of me, twerp!" Jesse shouted hysterically, flailing her arm miserably to try and get the little girl who was clinging to her like an angry Chihuahua far, far away from her. The last thing she ever needed was to see the twerps again.  
Jesse finally wrenched herself away, but Jenny was only feet away as she did so. Angry tears burned her eyes as she prepared to run again, but she was grabbed on the shoulder by another twerp before she could.  
"Hit me and run," he brought his lips up to her ear and whispered loudly, taking hold of the purse she never got to enjoy. "Do it!"  
Jesse relinquished the purse, but slapped Brock across the face as hard as she could and took off, knowing she was going to be caught anyway. She didn't look back, but dashed away from the people into an alleyway, and they were plenty thankful to get out of her way.  
Jesse stopped to breathe only after ducking behind the cover of a dumpster. She looked toward where Jenny should have apprehended her easily, the blood in her temples drowning out most of the sound from the scene she saw before her.  
"You couldn't even hold on to a girl!" Ash shouted. "I bet you let her go on purpose!"  
Brock almost seemed to flush red, but instead frowned and insisted that he had put up a fight.  
"I'll have to get you guys to give an artist description right away," Jenny crossed her arms and shook her head. "Makes me sick to see people stealing from old ladies."  
"That'll be no pr-" Ash began, but was quickly interrupted.  
"Well officer," Brock stepped in front of Ash and spoke loudly, "we didn't really get a good look at her, and she was just some homeless girl probably-she probably won't try it again after all this. You might as well give her a chance."  
"But!" Ash began, but Misty socked his arm, trying to get him to be quiet. Brock gave her a grateful glance.  
"I guess you're right," Jenny scratched her chin suspiciously, as if she didn't really think he was right.  
"And there's no harm done," Brock held out the purse to Jenny, who snatched it away from him. "The purse is back."  
"Well," Jenny frowned, "all right, but if there's any money missing I'm assuming you were in on it!"  
Brock sweat dropped a little, probably because he couldn't be sure that Jesse hadn't gotten any money out, but he just gulped and agreed to the empty threat.  
Jesse began to shake a little, then passed out.  
  
"We could have had Team Rocket out of our hair forever!" Ash grumbled as the fireworks shot into the sky, but didn't take time out from scooping sushi into his mouth to speak.  
"Have you not even noticed that Jesse hasn't even been around when James and Meowth have tried to steal Pikachu?" Misty rolled her eyes, also not pausing from eating to speak. "But you didn't have to let her go, Brock."  
"Oh come on," Brock sighed, poking at his food weakly, "she looked like an Ethiopian prisoner."  
"You felt sorry for her!" Misty pointed a finger at Brock's nose. "I knew it!"  
"Yeah," Brock shrugged, "what's your point?"  
"You can't fall in love with a Team Rocket member!" Ash stamped his fist on the table. "It just isn't right!"  
"Hey!" Brock sat up and stamped his fist on the table back. "Who said anything about love?" he calmed down and sat back before continuing, "I just didn't think she deserved jail right then, is all."  
"These fireworks are pretty good," Ash changed the subject. "What day was this parade for again?"  
"It's the annual Pewter City Rock Pokemon Festival!" Brock's face turned red with anger as Ash couldn't remember the thing he'd been talking about for months.  
"Oops," Ash chortled, "I guess the food hasn't hit me yet."  
Brock rolled his eyes and decided to sit elsewhere for a minute. Ash and Misty started talking about the stupid fireworks again while Brock took his bowl of shrimp and rice and made his way away from the crowds and picnic tables and lanterns and sat on the side of the gym, maybe hoping somewhere in the back of his mind that someone from his family would sneak away from bed and come and find him. It was nice to see them again-maybe he'd stay for a while and catch up with Ash and Misty later.  
Brock knocked his head against the wall and closed his eyes. His temples were throbbing for reasons that weren't immediately obvious, and bed seemed like a good idea.  
"Give us pikachu!" a voice shouted feebly a few feet from him.  
"Sorry," Brock sighed. "Wrong guy."  
"We know," James sighed, coming into Brock's field of vision, "we were hoping to scare you and make you drop your bowl of food."  
"Ya want it?" Brock rolled his eyes and held out the bowl. The motion was hardly finished before it was out of his hand and devoured by a blue haired guy and a cat.  
"How come you guys always have elaborate machines and ideas to trap pikachu," Brock scratched his forehead, "but never anything to eat?"  
"We put in orders for the stuff at work," James sighed.  
"Dey don't exactly have take out," Meowth burped.  
"Try selling them next time," Brock suggested, thinking of getting up and leaving, but feeling to lazy in the end.  
"We'd get fired for that!" James blinked, and Meowth nodded in agreement.  
"You guys are pathetic," Brock sighed, not very sympathetically.  
"Yeah," James decided to sit down in front of Brock, somehow just glad to have another human to talk to, "but at least we were happily pathetic when Jesse was around."  
"Well I saw her earlier today," Brock offered, "I don't know what she's doing in Pewter but she isn't looking too good."  
James and Meowth perked up immediately.  
"You mean ta say we stop following ya for one minute ta look at da parade and you see Jesse?" Meowth blinked in shock.  
"I guess," Brock laughed, "Murphy's Law."  
"She wasn't looking good?" James frowned.  
"Well," Brock shook his head, "you think you guys haven't had anything to eat-she looked like she'd been in a concentration camp."  
"You're exaggerating," James whispered, hardly believing his ears.  
"Well maybe I am," Brock flushed a little, "but you should look for her before she gets too far. In fact, she should probably see a doctor."  
James turned his pockets inside out and Meowth grabbed at the fur on his thighs for emphasis.  
"We don't even have enough money ta buy her a bag of peanuts," Meowth sighed.  
Brock winced at this notion, wondering why they just didn't try and get a decent job. He put his hand on his head as if he just didn't have time for them.  
"Well if you ever do find her, bring her to me and I'll try and take her to the doctor then," Brock announced.  
"Why do you care so much?" James questioned him.  
Brock thought for a moment, but then the answer became clear. "It doesn't matter that she's in Team Rocket-that doesn't mean I want to see her die of starvation."  
"Well for your information she quit Team Rocket," James frowned. "She wanted a new job so she could afford things and not have to get electrocuted every day. I guess it isn't working out for her."  
Brock's throat was feeling dry, so he didn't bother to respond. He just began to wonder if she was still hanging out in Pewter-  
"If it makes you feel good," James interrupted his thought, "out of all you twerps, we probably hated you the least."  
"Oh, wow." Brock pretended to laugh, "I'm touched. Really."  
An awkward silence passed over the three, and Brock began to notice the grass beneath his seat and the black sky and the twittering stars upon it. The social scene and the multi-colored lanterns which seemed a world away wasn't at all inviting, but it did make him feel suddenly very cold.  
Brock brought his knees to his chest, folded his arms over them and buried his face. A few minutes of this caused him to be left alone as James and Meowth made their way to wherever it was they went for the night. Brock was probably causing Ash and Misty to worry, but he didn't really care at that moment.  
He stood up after a while and patted the dirt off of his backside, grumbling as pieces of grass decided that they didn't want to jar loose from his pants. He rubbed his forearms with his hands as he walked around, his eyes feeling red with tired as he began to notice the breeze as it was more prominent behind the gym than it was in the festival dinner area.  
He found his way into the street in front of the gym, away from where the dinner was and more towards where the incident with Jesse had occurred earlier. He was genuinely worried about her-pokemon thief or no her situation of great need seemed to bring out some mothering instinct in Brock.  
Something else brought him there too-he just didn't feel good at all for some reason, and just wanted to get away for a minute. It wasn't a good feeling to be bothered but not really know why, and being alone to chew on it probably wasn't the best thing he could have done.  
The surrounding night seemed even more surreal as the social activity faintly rang in Brock's ears even as far as he had gone.  
Stay awake Brock, he told himself as his eyes began to droop. It's not even that late.  
Brock was dragging his feet as he walked along the street, but nearly tripped on a half of a magazine lying near the sidewalk. He picked it up, and the picture was hard to make out in the dark, but it seemed to be a picture of a couple fighting-maybe some teen "should you break up with your boyfriend?" quiz. He'd pity anyone who took some Seventeen magazine quiz and used it as a deciding factor for such a decision.  
He sighed, feeling even more desolate as the magazine began to flap a little in the wind. He walked with it for a little while, not sure why. He decided to get rid of it as he spotted the familiar green of a dumpster peeking out of a nearby alleyway.  
He coughed as he lifted a lid in order to throw the magazine away, but something behind it caught his eye before he could do so. He felt almost psychic or something as it became obvious what the wisps of red hair clinging to the greasy sides of the dumpster belonged to, and he quickly kneeled down beside it.  
  
Part III False Siblings! An Uncureable Itch!  
  
"Stop it Ash!" Misty slapped his hands fiercely as they moved upward toward his neck and face.  
"Ah cam hep ih," Ash's eyes watered, and he began to scrape his teeth along his tongue when Misty whacked him over the head, causing him to realize just what he was doing.  
"You're a moron Ash!" Misty chastised, and took one of her shoes off and removed the sock beneath it. Ash's eyes widened as she rolled it into a ball.  
"Wad oo goin ah do wi da?" Ash's muffled voice resonated with anxiety.  
"You won't be tempted to scratch in your mouth any more if something is in it!"  
"Buh I oond wan oo ayse oo inny feeb!" Ash cried, and miraculously Misty knew that he had said "but I don't want to taste your stinky feet!"  
"They'll taste better than my fist," Misty threatened, then shoved the sock in Ash's mouth. He tried to take it out, but the oven mitts tied to his hands made it difficult.  
Misty sighed and looked at Brock with a bit of irritation.  
"Don't you know anything that would help him?" she grumbled.  
Brock wasn't even listening, he just kept staring at his cup of slightly-brown coffee in front of him.  
"Look," Misty flicked the Styrofoam cup with an agitated finger, "I know it's hospital coffee, but-" she searched for something witty to say, but decided to get right to the point. "Don't you think you're acting a little too worried over a Team Rocket member? I mean, look what happened to this retard child because you were gone for five minutes!"  
"Kachu?" Pikachu looked up at her with irritation as she hadn't stopped calling Ash a moron all night long.  
"Err ah eear id!" Ash tried to deny his retardation, but his speech was even farther impaired by the sock he couldn't quite get out of his mouth. And it was getting plenty drool soaked and annoying.  
"Oh it could have happened to anyone," Brock lied, trying to avoid Misty's question.  
"Yeah," Misty rolled her eyes, "I'm sure the doctor has seen this a hundred times. I bet small children do it all the time."  
"Uh uhp hsmry!" Ash mumbled again, and miraculously Misty knew that he was telling her to shut up.  
Brock sighed and leaned back in the chair, his hands on his knees as he almost tried to fall asleep, using the diseased wall behind his head as a pillow.  
"Ash?" someone came out of the door holding a clipboard and called for the kid.  
"Ahs ee!" Ash proclaimed, and stood up to leave and see the doctor.  
  
"This truly is the worst case of a poison oak rash in the mouth and on the body I've ever seen," the doctor gawked at Ash's open mouth. "How did this happen?"  
"Mr wrrr alin-" Ash began, but was cut off by Misty.  
"He saw a pokemon in the bushes," Misty shook her head, "threw a pokeball at it, then went searching for the pokemon, and it turned out to be an angry weepinbell who decided to use its vine whip to grab Ash and totally trash him-and since Ash was screaming like a girl-"  
"A ot ream ie a irl!" Ash protested.  
"Since he was screaming like a baby," Misty corrected herself, "the leaves got in his mouth, and since he was too stupid to realize that they were poisonous-"  
"A eva aww un eeore!" Ash grumbled, angry that he couldn't plead his case himself.  
"He chewed on them before spitting them out."  
"No a in't!" Ash denied the allegation that he was too dumb to spit out poisonous leaves.  
"I think if he had chewed on him he'd be in an even worse state," the doctor proclaimed. "Now please remove the sock from his mouth."  
Brock looked up at the clock, didn't even bother to read the time off of it, and began fidgeting in the chair he'd been in throughout the entire examination.  
"Gotta use the can?" Misty laughed at him.  
"No," Brock rolled his eyes playfully at her. "But I think I'm gonna walk around for a minute."  
"You're gonna leave me with Moron?" she pouted.  
"I think you'll live," Brock pursed his lips as he exited the room.  
Brock walked quickly down the hallway, looking backwards often to as if he were about to commit a crime. He kept on walking until he reached the next waiting room.  
"Ok, I'm back," he told the receptionist at the front desk of this waiting room.  
The receptionist smiled up at him and put down a stack of papers she was fiddling with. "Oh good-you're just in time to see the nurse give her an IV drip."  
"Wonderful," Brock cringed in sarcasm.  
"You know," the receptionist called as Brock walked over to one of the rooms surrounding the waiting area, "you guys sure don't look much alike for being brother and sister."  
Brock laughed nervously, waving goodbye as he did so. He trotted into the room quickly, and the nurse was just finishing inserting the IV.  
"If that leaves a bruise, you'll pay!" Jesse grumbled, shaking her other fist as the nurse and Brock interchanged places at the door.  
"She's a fun one," the nurse hissed as she seethed and jolted her cart to the next room.  
"Now Jesse," Brock closed the door behind him, "you'll never get any better if you don't let the hospital staff take care of you."  
"And you," Jesse narrowed her eyes, "why do you care?"  
"I am your brother after all," he shrugged.  
"And why did you tell them that?" Jesse hmphed.  
"You can set them straight, if you want to."  
Jesse pouted a minute more, trying to come up with a response to that.  
"Well I've been bored-I had no reason to make them keep you from visiting."  
Brock smiled and moved in to sit on the edge of the bed. "You know they're going to release you soon."  
Jesse shifted her weight in her arms, moving backward as if uncomfortable with the twerp sitting on the bed with her. "Well good," she snorted, "I never liked hospitals."  
"Well what are you going to do?"  
"What do you mean what am I going to do?"  
"You know, when you get out? So you don't seriously dehydrated again?"  
"I'll get a job somewhere!" Jesse assured. "Someone out there will recognize my talent!"  
"Well, James and Meowth say they miss you."  
Jesse sat back again, folding her arms best she could with a needle and wire sticking out of one. "Well I miss them too-but I'm done with Team Rocket and there's no going back."  
"Far be it from me to suggest you go back to Team Rocket," Brock blanched, wondering if that's what it sounded like he as suggesting. "I was just saying."  
Jesse turned away from him, her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to think of some witty insult. But she wasn't feeling particularly insulting at that moment.  
"I give up," Jesse sighed. "I can't get a job, and I'm a failure in Team Rocket. What do you suggest I do, huh? Really-give me one good reason why you didn't just leave me where you found me."  
"Well you could always start by having dinner with us tonight," Brock offered. "You couldn't die before tasting my cooking-that just isn't right." 


End file.
